


And Even the Graves are Lost

by Quillori



Category: Arthurian Mythology, Preiddeu Annwn | The Spoils of Annwn (Poem)
Genre: Gen, Interactive Fiction, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 03:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2835902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillori/pseuds/Quillori





	And Even the Graves are Lost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raspberryhunter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberryhunter/gifts).



 

[Read it Here!](http://philome.la/AnonForYuletide/and-even-the-graves-are-lost)

 

 

[Preiddeu Annwn (The Spoils of Annwn)](http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/preiddeu-annwn), the poem on which this is based.

This one definitely leans more to the story than to the game side of IF. Normally, the reader takes the role of a participant in the story, or at least influences a participant's actions. But of course storytelling itself was originally interactive, in a way - if you tell a story to an audience, even if they mostly keep quiet and listen, you are still paying attention to them, and tailoring your story to their interests. So I thought it might be interesting to write an IF story on that model, where the reader is the audience, not a participant, and the influence they have is not on the story, but on how it is told - shorter or longer, dwelling on one type of incident or another. But the storyteller still exists - the audience can change the probability of any particular storytelling choice, but not make direct decisions with regard to the action.

I’m not sure anyone would want to sit down and try to get at all the possible content (which since the story works on probabilities, might take some time - the same choice will not always get you precisely the same response, although it will increase the odds of getting a particular type of response), but it is designed to be indefinitely re-readable: just like a story told in person, it will be the same story, but a bit different, every time.

For the seven who make it back, I have conflated the version with Bran instead of Arthur with the seven survivors of Camlan - Cynwyl has some of Pryderi’s story, Cedwyn has been replaced by Glifiau, Derfel Gadarn by Manawydan, Geneid Hir by Heilyn. Those who don’t make it are all from the Battle of Camlan. I have taken the various fortresses mentioned to be variant names for the same place, and that place four-cornered - a reading where there were more different fortresses would have been fun to explore, but this is a treat and I didn’t have time!


End file.
